Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Ottawa Police vs Stacy Bonds

For over two years the Ottawa Police have had in their possession police video showing the unlawful arrest, assault, detention and brutalizing of Stacy Bonds by Ottawa police officers - including having her bra and shirt cut off with the assistance of "at least three male officers" and being left half-naked in a cell for three hours in the pants she soiled in fear - and only now that the case has gone public is Ottawa police Chief Vern White getting around to promising what he has the gall to refer to as "a swift internal investigation" ?

Stacy Bonds, 27, 100 pounds, and with no prior record, was arrested merely for asking why she was being questioned by police.

Presiding Justice Richard Lajoie describes the subsequent police station videotape.Bonds is "clearly cooperating", "compliant", "with no hint of violence and no hint of being aggressive", yet he says the cameras show Bonds received "two extremely violent knee hits in the back", "is taken to the ground" with a riot shield, "someone has a hand inside Ms. Bonds' pants", and Sergeant Steven Desjourdy cuts off Bonds' shirt and bra, at which point she is strip searched by Constable Melanie Morris in the presence of "at least three male officers" before being thrown half naked into a cell.

And you thought if you were all compliant and cooperative nothing like this would ever happen to you.

"It’s not the first time Desjourdy has been under investigation. Days before this 2008 case, he kicked and Tasered a female prisoner in the cell block twice. In 2009, he pleaded guilty under the Police Act and was demoted for three months from sergeant to constable."

Which gives us some idea of what the outcome of Ottawa Police Chief Vern White's "swift internal investigation" will look like.

Vern White : "We ask for your understanding and patience considering that Ottawa Police cannot comment on SIU matters per Section 12 of Regulation 673/98, enacted under the Police Services Act, which states that the police force and members of the police force shall not, during the course of an investigation by the SIU, disclose to any person any information with respect to the incident or the investigation."

Well, that's handy, isn't it? On top of that the SIU are toothless anyway.

Anon : Yes. Of all the thousands of hours of G20 video of incidents of police brutality, the SIU (Special Investigations Unit) only found six cases which met their criteria for investigation, and of those six none could be prosecuted because the officers involved declined to be interviewed by the SIU. So aside from hiding officers who assault people in broad daylight from public scrutiny because their investigation is underway, what exactly is the SIU good for?

Stacy's cousin : How upsetting all this coverage must be for you and your family on top of everything else. I was glad to see Justice Lajoie censored the vid footage so at least her nakedness was not shown. From my co-blogger Dr. Dawg :"Ping: Stacy Bonds"Please contact me. I can suggest legal counsel, and we can talk about setting up a fund to underwrite the costs of your lawsuit."

understatment. Those police officers should be procecuted to the full extent of the law. They should be made to pay any lawsuits with their own money. This is typical of many police forces around our province and country. The testing police forces use to decide who would make a good cop somehow misses the element of decent human beings.

The entire accountability system is internal regarding police "mishaps". This must change. Currently police are allowed to investigate their own inhouse. How can there be a true accountability? Even policemen/women who may start out with the intention to "serve and protect" - once they understand the system - a certain percentage "paredo's law" will abuse the system JUST BECAUSE THEY CAN. So this incident and other incidents like this are commonplace amoung a small perentage of "nomad police" who lack the brain power and conscience to do the right thing at all times.Unfortunately human nature causes average and ordinary people to do very stupid things without an accountability program in place. It is absolutely imperative Ms. Bond allows this case to go through the legal system. The "cops" - all 5 of them - need to be stripped of their badges, fired without pay. - in fact they should be fired retroactively from the day they commited that retarded crime - if you ask me. The minute they laid hands on her, they were no longer employees of the public. This case should be treated like a standard assult and battery charge. They will be found guilty by the public and need to spend time behind bars. Until this type of action starts to take place, the Canadian Police Departments will remain inadequate in their ability to protect and serve. Their "standards" will continue to be comprimised by the 20%'s who do not respect or understand their role in society. Rather than assisting the public, they are abusing the public at their discretion.

We need community accepted peace officers that follow the same rules as their fellow Canadian citizens instead of the corporate owned police service(COPS) and their immunity to the law. When will people realize the RCMP are a bunch of hired goons employed by our very own government. We need protection, not prosecution. "G-20" nuff said.

I am so sorry you had to endure this horrendous experience and yet it is people brave as yourself who will be light to the darkness that resides within the confines of jails where people in uniform can hide their nasty evilness. The fact that it was a woman inflicting this horror is even more shameful.Thank you for the work you are doing and may you been rewarded for your suffering. These police need to be fired they are a disgrace to the uniform.